Cranberry & walnut bread pudding with dried cherries - Perfect for Thanksgiving

Since I totally missed the boat on Canadian Thanksgiving I figured it was only right to mention Thanksgiving since my American friends will be celebrating tomorrow. Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite fooding holidays. A few weeks back I came home form work with some left over brioche ends that were destined for the garbage. I couldn't bear the thought of throwing away such beautiful homemade bread so one of the chefs said I could go ahead and take it home.  My tummy was grumbling with excitement. I had just bought fresh cranberries and I knew I had eggs and cream in the fridge - a recipe started to build in my brain. I had never made bread pudding but I knew it couldn't be too difficult because it's basically just a french toast casserole. I consulted a few recipes on Epicurious to get a better idea of how many eggs to bread ratio. I'm pretty positive if you left out the sugar and added a sauteed onion and some fresh thyme, lardon, salt and pepper this would make an equally as delicious savory version. 
INGREDIENTS: 
4 cups brioche - ripped into pieces
5 eggs - whisked 
2 cups light cream 
1tsp cardamom 
1 lemon zested
1tsp vanilla extract 
1/3 cup cane sugar 
1/3 cup butter chopped
about 1/2 cup fresh cranberries 
about 1/2 cup dried cherries
about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
pinch of salt
COOK: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk eggs, cream, sugar, spices and zest. Add all dry ingredients together in a 9 inch (greased) loaf pan then pour in the wet. Drop the cubed butter all over the top and sprinkle with a little more sugar. Let stand for about 20 minutes then bake for 40. 
SERVE: I served as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and concord grape sauce. You can serve this along side your turkey and the rest of the fixings. 
* If you want to freeze for a later date bake with out the butter and sugar. Let the loaf come to room temp - add the butter and sugar on cover with foil or plastic wrap and place in the freezer. When you are ready to use - refrigerate over night then let stand at room temp for about an hour before re-heating at 250 for 30- 45 mins.